Top 10 Tips for Hosting a Corporate Event on a Lake Travis Boat Rental

Sure, we host unforgettable wild lake parties, but we are also well regarded for our corporate event options.

We’ve long been booked for corporate events, and client appreciation events because of the aforementioned reputation. One creative option is to rent our entire fleet - the Triple Crown double decker seats up to 19 passengers plus the captain, the Pearl Snap double decker seats up to 17, and the Texas Rodeo seats up to 13.

The fleet can drop anchor together and raft up (be tied to one another with fenders in between the boats to protect them), allowing folks with good balance to walk between each boat or for people choosing to swim to use the slides or our massive lily pad aqua floats together.

Besides Not Being Soul Sucking, There Are Plenty of Benefits to Renting a Party Boat for Your Corporate Event

Cost effectiveness

For what it would cost you to reserve a private room at a restaurant and buy lame streamers and flat sodas, you can bring your entire team out on the water.

Time sensitivity

Let’s be honest, even the closest of teams don’t want to spend a 12-hour day together doing team building or bonding exercises. Whichever boat you choose, or the entire fleet, you’re most likely to spend an afternoon out, which we promise the introverts on your team will appreciate. Give folks some time off if you can!

Cleanliness + Professionalism

We’ve touched on it already[link to common mistreats blog], but let us be clear - not all Lake Travis boat rentals are equal. Some are simply fly-by-night folks that don’t even carry insurance. We clean our fleet in between every outing, which is rare. Our captains are sober, which trust us, isn’t always the norm on Lake Travis.
 
We only hire top tier captains. Take Captain Beau for example - he had his first chartering business in the Caribbean when he was 24 and is a retired Firefighter/EMT. We take our growing business very seriously as you can see by our Google Reviews. 

Here Are Our Top 10 Tips for Hosting a Party Boat Corporate Event With Us

1. Prepping the planning portion

While a corporate event comes with an entirely different set of rules for executing, the planning for a boating event isn’t very unlike planning a bachelor or bachelorette party regarding how to prepare and what to pull together, so check out our guides on those for some quick insights.

2. Consider the cooks in the kitchen

We highly recommend putting ONE wrangler in charge of the event. We can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen events get overly complicated by too many cooks in the kitchen. This person should be the go-to for registration, the final decision maker for the itinerary, and so forth. Trust us on this one, it can get wild quickly - make sure one person is THE person for this event.

3. Nail down the numbers

Get the numbers right as soon as possible to make the rest of your execution easier. If you email 60 people on your team that this event is going down, don’t blindly assume all 60 will be there - set up registration either through internal tools or an invite-only Eventbrite page.
 
Take attrition into account and never assume that 100% of people that say they are coming can come, even if the boss says it’s mandatory. Someone’s going to get sick that day, someone else is going to have a sick kid - you get the idea.

We’re thoughtful with your money, so let it be known that we believe it’s better to overbook than underbook, because there is no overflow and we legally can’t cram extra people onto a vessel just because more showed up than you booked space for. Sorry! Blame Texas Parks & Wildlife, not us.

4. Accommodations for external events

Allow folks to opt out, even if they’re being voluntold that they’re going to a company event. Remember, there are invisible disabilities people have and you wouldn’t want to discriminate against a valued team member, so an external event should never be mandatory.

Some companies will often allow folks that don’t want to participate to remain in-office or to work remotely, but most companies will simply allow accommodations for the day off for those individuals. Regardless, keep accommodations in mind.

Be clear in your communication that all are encouraged to attend for team cohesion purposes, but for those that can’t, they can reach out to a point person (preferably in HR), and that no one will be punished for missing. That’s just modern policy for any company outing now, to be honest.

5. Time to get turnt, or time to tune out?

Pick a tone. The best place to start is determining if this is an enthusiastic celebration or relaxing getaway. Will there be bonding exercises and competitions, or will there be calm reflection? This will determine much of your planning, and is a moment that we say from experience can reduce the overwhelming number of options down more quickly.

6. Let your calendar be your guide

Consider the date and time of your event. If the goal is to have a loud ruckus where everyone can drink and unwind, maybe a loud summer afternoon rafted up on Devil’s Cove is what you’re looking for. Or maybe a quieter afternoon of chill bonding on a Texas holiday like San Jacinto Day in one of the more private coves on the lake is called for.
 
Maybe you want your day to start early with a team hike, or you want to lunch, do some ziplining, then hit the water. Perhaps you want your time on the water to end with clapping at the sunset, or seeing 4th of July fireworks, or maybe the conclusion will be getting dropped off at one of Lake Travis’ eateries, many of which we can pull right up to. Make sure you have timing in mind before you book, it’ll save you a lot of consternation!

7. Put your budget together with accuracy

Some teams are small enough that simply going out on the water with a cooler filled with Waterloo is an amazing break. Others are newly funded startups that are looking for those photo-perfect moments that call for tons of swag, so a hired photographer might be one of your passengers.
 
Be sure to include food and drink. We do have a large cooler because transporting heavy coolers from your car to the boat and back can be difficult. We highly recommend you bring ice and use ours. Make sure food is boat friendly - soup might not be the best option, but chilled solids are. And again, we can always stop for a burger at a pull-up spot on the Lake (we know ‘em all)!
 
Details matter. If it’s anything beyond a simple relaxing afternoon, consider that you’ll be on the water. We recommend companies bring relevant swag like branded towels, koozies, and/or recyclable plastic cups for the team to show you’re thinking about them in the context of where the event is.

8. Make sure everyone knows what to bring

If you’re not providing food, drink, cups, towels, and so forth, make it clear. Make the dress code clear - just because you’re on a boat doesn’t mean you’re required to swim… not everyone has summer bods at any time of the year so be sensitive to this. We have some dress code recommendations here for you. Further, skin protection is important, lightweight bags (if any) are important, and branded gear might also play into what to bring.
 
Remember, it’s a boat, so water is the main feature. Unlike other rental companies, we already have a first aid kit on board, so we’ve thought through the seriousness of the requirements for you. The main thing to bring (besides drinks) is your playlist because our sound systems are amazing.

9. Time is of the essence

Remember that some folks might literally miss the boat. Your reservation time includes dock time, and if the clock is ticking and Matthew is frickin’ late as always, if you want to stick to the schedule, we take off on time.
 
We recommend setting an arrival time 20-30 minutes before your reservation time so you can gather the team on shore and make sure everyone gets there (just don’t tell Matthew that the vessel doesn’t leave until a certain time, pad that time, friend!).

10. We’re bringin’ safety back, yep!

Because this isn’t a drunken friend fest, safety must come first. As mentioned, we already have a first aid kit on board, some of our captains are literally EMT trained, but if your coworkers get wasted and try to do a back flip off the top of a slide, we’ll do our best stop them, but if they win that battle and bonk their melon on the way down, the party’s over and it’s time to go to the hospital.

Time with us is intended to be fun and we’ve thought of the safety logistics, but if the captain says no, the captain means no and they will TURN THIS CAR AROUND, YOUNG LADY.

We hope this guide helps you to see not only our deep experience with hosting corporate events, but how much care goes into each and every single outing. We would be honored to host your team on Lake Travis for a chill afternoon OR an unforgettable (but safe) ruckus - your call!